Abdullah Shoaib
Managing Director
6 min read
Last Updated December 25, 2024
What is voltage?
Voltage – or potential difference, as it’s also known – is a term that you might vaguely associate with electricity, but unless you’ve got expertise on the topic, you probably don’t fully understand what it is and what impact it has on you or your business.
In the simplest of terms, voltage is the pressure that pushes a current through a circuit to power an electrical device such as a lamp. Once upon a time when electricity was still in its infancy, voltage was known as electromotive force – a name that gives you a lot more context about its nature and function.
What does voltage mean for the consumer?
Voltage is rarely brought up by energy companies because it’s not always relevant to most consumers. For many, all they want to know is that the electricity comes into the building, powers their appliances and devices, and they pay for what they use.
However, understanding a little bit more about voltage could potentially help you to save money on your electricity bills – and who doesn’t want that?
Essentially, mains electricity comes into your premises at a set voltage, ready to be used by your appliances. However, those appliances might work at a lower voltage than what your electricity is supplied at, which can lead to wastage of electricity – using more than you really need to power your home or business.
Not all appliances and devices are voltage dependent – which means not all appliances can lead to lower energy consumption if the voltage of the electricity supply were reduced. However, if your home or business has a large proportion of voltage-dependent appliances, there may be an opportunity to reduce your usage and therefore your bills.
This works through a process called voltage optimisation, where a trained electrician – never try this yourself – installs a system at the point where mains electricity enters your home or business. This reduces the supply voltage to a more appropriate level to suit the appliances within, getting rid of that excess voltage that’s costing you money.
Naturally, this process of voltage optimisation will have a greater impact on larger scale businesses with lots of voltage-dependent appliances. But it can still lead to significant savings for small businesses or domestic premises, depending on what your voltage needs are. As mentioned, voltage optimisation isn’t for everyone – but if it could save you money, it may be worth looking into.
What is the mains voltage in the UK?
In the UK, mains electricity is supplied to homes and businesses at roughly 230V, with a small amount of allowed variation (+10% to -6%). In practice, this means that the supply entering your property could be anywhere between 216.2V and 253V.
This is a standard range which applies to many European countries as well as the UK, and a wide range of appliances are designed to handle this amount of variation in voltage. However, ‘handling’ that level of voltage doesn’t necessarily mean that the appliance is functioning optimally, and it could be that running on a higher than needed voltage may lead to the appliance breaking down or wearing out quicker.
In the case of voltage-dependent appliances, significant savings could be achieved by taking control of the voltage of your supply. If your appliances are designed to run at 220V, for example, but your supply typically exceeds 250V – still within the acceptable range – you could be using as much as 30V unnecessarily. And as well as costing you more on your bills, this generates a larger carbon footprint, with a greater impact on the environment.
Whether you’re happy with your electricity bills as they are or you’re looking to cut them down, then your first port of call should be to try to reduce your consumption via using appliances less often and choosing more efficient devices. Another option is to switch your energy supplier so you can get a more favourable deal.
But if those measures have left you with bills that are still higher than you’d like, voltage optimisation may be an avenue worth exploring that could save you money over time.